If you have a knack for art or a passion for design, you may be wondering how you can use your skills to make a profit. Starting your very own sticker business can be a fantastic way to use your artistic skills to make money. You can list your art in sticker form, design custom stickers for businesses, or design a business model that combines both. Either way, if you’re ready to make money off of your talent, take a look at some tips that will help you start your own sticker business.
- Find Your Niche
- Choose a Sticker Material
- In-House vs. Outsourcing
- Select a Selling Platform
Find Your Niche
When you run a sticker business, it may seem wise to cast a wide net and attract as many customers as possible. You could sell fan art stickers at conventions, design logos, make marketing material for businesses, or create completely unique designs from your own art. However, in the beginning, this strategy might end up spreading you too thin. Instead, you should stick to a hyper-niche group that’s willing to pay for your services. Whether you offer customized stickers for weddings, cute animal art stickers, or solely logo design, it’s better to start small.
Choose a Sticker Material
There are three main sticker materials you can choose from, each with unique pros and cons: vinyl, polyester, and paper. Paper is the least durable of the three options, and while these stickers aren’t weatherproof, they are fantastic for labeling. Polyester and vinyl are both durable options, but vinyl is best suited for long-lasting stickers, especially when laminated. Which you choose depends on the intended purpose of your stickers. If you want something that’s durable and cost-effective, polyester is your best bet.
In-House vs. Outsourcing
Whether you choose to outsource your sticker making or do it all in-house depends on your budget and your level of expertise. If you’re ready to be your own boss, you’ll have to invest in the right tools and materials, such as a cutting machine, a cutting mat, laminate, and sticker sheets. You’ll also have to get good at printing and managing the technology. Your images are the bread and butter of your business and need to be high-quality—therefore, to show off your business, you need to use high-quality printing. This may sound like a lot of work with a large learning curve—which is true. However, you can avoid having to continuously cut into your profits and work on someone else’s schedule.
Select a Selling Platform
Once again, you may want to cast a wide net and post on as many social media channels as possible, but doing so is more work than it’s worth. Certain social media sites are better for image-based content, such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest. However, you don’t have to create content for every single one of these sites. Focus on one or two, depending on your audience. For example, if you’re creating cartoon stickers for fandom-related audiences, you may want to stick to Pinterest or Instagram. On the other hand, if you’re comfortable posting time-lapses of your process, video marketing media succeeds on TikTok and YouTube.
With these few tips, you’re already on your way to starting your own sticker business. Just be sure to stick to your niche focus on creating a high-quality product, and you’ll rake in the clients in no time.
